Pool Service & Repair FAQ

Most weekly pool service in the Houston area runs somewhere in the range of about $120 to $250 a month, depending on the size of your pool, whether it’s chlorine or saltwater, how much tree cover and debris it deals with, and exactly what the plan includes. A basic "chemicals only" visit sits at the low end, while full-service plans that add brushing, netting, emptying baskets, backwashing the filter, and inspecting equipment cost more. Pools under heavy oak canopy or near construction usually need more attention and land higher. Because our long swim season means your pool is running almost year-round, consistent weekly care is genuinely cheaper than the algae blooms, stained plaster, and burned-out pumps that come from letting it slide. Our partners will quote you a flat monthly rate after seeing the pool, so there are no surprises.

A green pool is algae, and the fix is a process rather than a single dose. First the water is tested and balanced, then it’s shock-chlorinated to a high level to kill the algae, often several pounds of shock for a badly neglected pool. The pump has to run continuously (24 hours or more) to circulate the chemicals, the walls and floor get brushed to knock algae loose, and an algaecide may be added. As the algae dies the water usually turns cloudy blue-gray, then clears over a few days of running the filter and cleaning or backwashing it repeatedly. In Houston’s heat a pool can go from clear to green in just a couple of days once chlorine drops, so severe cases sometimes need a chlorine wash or acid wash instead of chasing it with chemicals. Our partners can clear most green pools in under a week and, just as importantly, sort out why it happened so it doesn’t come right back.

For most Houston pools, weekly service is the right cadence, and it’s what we recommend. Our long, hot swim season means chlorine burns off fast, algae grows aggressively, and pools see heavy use for eight or nine months of the year, so water chemistry can drift out of safe range in just a few days. A weekly visit keeps sanitizer and pH in check, catches equipment problems early, and keeps the water balanced so it isn’t etching plaster or corroding metal. Beyond the weekly chemistry, filters should be cleaned periodically (monthly to quarterly depending on type and load), and the full equipment set, pump, heater, automation, deserves a closer inspection at least once a year. If you have a saltwater pool the cell should also be checked and cleaned on a regular schedule. You can do it yourself, but many Houston owners find weekly professional service is worth it just for reliably clear, safe water.

Both are actually chlorine pools, the difference is how the chlorine is delivered. A traditional pool needs chlorine added manually (tablets, liquid, or a floater), while a saltwater pool has a salt cell that generates chlorine continuously from dissolved salt. Saltwater pools tend to feel softer on skin and eyes, keep more stable chlorine levels, and require less hands-on dosing, which many Houston families prefer. The trade-offs: the initial salt system costs more up front, the salt cell is a wear item that needs cleaning and eventual replacement every 3 to 7 years, and the salt can be harder on certain deck materials, stone, and metal fixtures over time. Chlorine pools are cheaper to set up and simpler to fix, but demand more frequent manual dosing in our heat. Neither is "no maintenance", both still need balancing, brushing, and filtration. Our partners install and service both and can walk you through which fits your budget and how you use the pool.

There are a handful of common culprits, and they range from trivial to serious. If the pump won’t turn on at all, it’s often a tripped breaker or GFCI, a bad timer, or a failed capacitor, the capacitor is an inexpensive part that fails frequently in our heat and causes a humming pump that won’t start. If the pump runs but moves little or no water, the usual suspects are a clogged basket, a dirty or clogged filter, a closed valve, or an air leak on the suction side that lets the pump lose its prime. A pump that’s loud, screeching, or vibrating usually has worn bearings, and one that’s leaking at the seal or shutting itself off may be overheating. Houston pumps also simply wear out from running so many hours a year. Some of this is DIY-checkable (clear the basket, confirm valves are open, reset the breaker), but electrical and motor issues should be handled by a pro. Our partners diagnose the exact cause and repair or replace the pump, often upgrading you to an energy-efficient variable-speed model that pays for itself on your electric bill.

The clearest sign is water loss beyond normal evaporation. In a Houston summer a pool can lose as much as a quarter to a half inch a day just to evaporation, so a good test is the bucket test: set a filled bucket on a step, mark the water levels inside and out, and compare after a day or two, if the pool drops noticeably faster than the bucket, you likely have a leak. Other red flags include the auto-fill running constantly, soggy or unusually green patches around the pool, cracks in the deck or plaster, air bubbles coming from the return jets, a drop in water level that stops at a particular spot (pointing to a leak at that fitting or light), and rising water bills. Because our expansive clay soil shifts so much, leaks in underground plumbing and at fittings are common here. Leaks waste water, undermine the deck and soil, and can damage equipment, so they’re worth chasing down. Our partners perform pressure testing and dye testing to pinpoint the source before any digging.

A good rule of thumb is to turn the entire volume of your pool over at least once a day, which for most residential pools means running the pump roughly 8 to 12 hours daily. In the peak of a Houston summer, when the water is hot, the sun is destroying chlorine, and algae is trying to take hold, the longer end of that range (10 to 12 hours) is smart, and pools with heavy bather load or lots of debris benefit from even more. The most efficient approach is a variable-speed pump run at a lower speed for longer hours: it filters and circulates far more cheaply than a single-speed pump blasting away for fewer hours, and it’s much quieter. Running during off-peak electricity hours can save money too. In winter you can cut the runtime back significantly since the demand drops. If your water is turning cloudy or green despite adequate chlorine, inadequate pump runtime is one of the first things to check.

Yes, the licensed partners we connect you with service and repair all the major pool equipment brands, including Pentair, Hayward, Jandy, Zodiac, Polaris, and others, across pumps, filters, heaters, salt systems, automation, and cleaners. You do not need to track down whoever originally built the pool or installed the equipment to get quality service. Whether you have an older single-speed pump that needs replacing, a heat pump that won’t fire, a salt cell that’s stopped generating, or an automation panel acting up, they can work on it and source the right parts. When a component is beyond economical repair or badly outdated, they’ll be straight with you about whether repairing or upgrading makes more sense, and if you’re replacing a pump, they can bring you up to a code-compliant, energy-efficient variable-speed model. Either way you get an upfront diagnosis and price before any work begins.

Cloudy water is not the same problem as algae, and the fix is usually chemistry and filtration rather than a shock treatment. The most common causes are poor filtration (a dirty filter or one that’s undersized for your pool, or simply not run long enough each day), imbalanced pH or alkalinity that keeps sanitizer from working efficiently, low chlorine that lets fine particles and bacteria build up without turning the water green, and high bather load after a pool party that introduces oils, sunscreen, and organic debris faster than the filter can catch it. Houston’s heat and heavy pollen and dust seasons add to the load on your filter too. Cloudiness can also come from very fine particulate that has passed through the filter media, which sometimes needs a filter cleaning or a clarifier product to help small particles clump together so the filter can trap them. If the water stays cloudy after balancing chemistry and running the pump longer, it is worth having the filter inspected, since a cracked lateral or worn cartridge can let debris bypass filtration entirely.

They are different organisms and some are much tougher to beat than others. Green algae is the most common and the easiest to clear, it grows fast in Houston heat but responds well to a standard shock and brush routine. Mustard algae looks like a yellowish-brown film, often mistaken for dirt or sand on the pool floor, and is notorious for being chlorine-resistant, brushing plus a algaecide formulated specifically for mustard algae alongside shock is usually needed, and it tends to reappear if swimsuits, toys, and equipment that touched it are not cleaned too. Black algae is the most stubborn of the three, it forms dark spots that root into plaster and grow a protective outer layer that ordinary chlorine barely touches, so it typically requires aggressive brushing to break that layer plus a specialized treatment, and sometimes multiple rounds, to fully eliminate. Because Houston’s long, warm season gives algae months to take hold, correctly identifying which type you have before treating saves time and product, since the wrong approach can leave the real problem untouched.

Staining usually comes from one of two sources: metals or organic material. Metal stains, often a rust-brown, blue-green, or dark gray, come from dissolved metals in fill water or from a corroding heater, pump fitting, or ladder, and Houston’s municipal and well water in some areas carries enough iron or copper to cause staining over time. Organic stains come from leaves, pollen, berries, or other debris that sits on the plaster or tile and leaves a mark as it decomposes, common under trees in older Houston neighborhoods. The fix depends on the cause: metal stains typically respond to a sequestering agent or a targeted stain-lifting treatment, while organic stains often lift with brushing and a stronger shock treatment or a localized treatment directly on the stain. Calcium scale on tile, a chalky white buildup rather than a stain, is a different issue caused by high calcium hardness and usually needs an acid wash or scale remover rather than chlorine. If staining is widespread or plaster is also etched or rough to the touch, it may point to a longer-term chemistry imbalance worth addressing with your service provider before it damages the surface further.

Do not drain the pool, an empty pool can actually pop out of the ground from hydrostatic pressure in saturated Houston soil, which is a far more expensive problem than storm debris. Instead, lower the water level by a few inches below the skimmer to leave room for heavy rain, and turn off power to the pump, heater, and automation system at the breaker to protect the equipment from power surges and flooding. Remove any pool furniture, floats, and loose deck items that could become projectiles or fall into the pool, and secure or remove the pool cover if you have one, since a poorly secured cover can do more damage than none at all in high wind. Add extra chlorine before the storm if you can, since you may not be able to service the pool for several days afterward, and cloudy or contaminated rainwater runoff will demand it. After the storm, do not turn equipment back on until you have visually inspected it for flooding or debris, and expect to shock the pool heavily once power is restored, since storm runoff, debris, and days without circulation typically turn a pool green fast.

Both clean the pool floor and walls, but they work differently and fit different budgets. Suction-side cleaners connect to your existing pump and skimmer or a dedicated suction line, using your pool’s existing circulation to move around and pull in debris, they cost less upfront but add load to your pump and filter, and tend to struggle with heavier debris like acorns or large leaves, which Houston’s tree-heavy neighborhoods produce plenty of. Robotic cleaners run independently on their own motor and filtration system, plugging into a standard outlet rather than your pool’s plumbing, they climb walls and the waterline more effectively, filter finer debris on their own (reducing strain on your main filter), and often include programmable schedules and Wi-Fi control. The tradeoff is a higher upfront cost and a unit that, being electronic, eventually needs its own maintenance, like replacing tracks or a worn motor. For pools with heavy leaf and pollen load, which describes much of Houston under mature oak canopy, the extra cleaning power of a robotic cleaner often pays for itself in fewer algae problems and less strain on your pump and filter.

Layers of protection matter more than any single safeguard, since no one barrier is foolproof. A four-sided fence that fully separates the pool from the house and yard, with a self-closing, self-latching gate, is the single most effective layer and is required by code in many Houston-area jurisdictions for new pool construction. Beyond the fence, a door alarm on doors leading to the pool area, a pool alarm that detects surface disturbance, and keeping rescue equipment (a shepherd’s hook and a life ring) poolside are all worth having. Constant, undistracted adult supervision during swim time is not optional, drowning happens silently and quickly, often in under a minute, and phones and conversations are the most common source of a supervision lapse. Swim lessons appropriate for your child’s age reduce risk significantly but do not replace supervision or barriers. If you host gatherings, designate a specific adult as the "water watcher" for a set period rather than assuming everyone is half-watching, since diffused responsibility is how kids slip past notice at pool parties.